Placing on the market of cultural property
A number of provisions of the Act on the Protection of Cultural Property (Kulturgutschutzgesetz, KGSG) – not only in the area of commercial trade – relate to the placingon the market of cultural property. With an eye to the various purposes of the KGSG (protection of national cultural property, protection of the cultural property of foreign countries), the definition of “cultural property” given in Section 2 (1) no. 10 KGSG is broad-based. It encompasses any movable object or aggregates of things of artistic, historical or archaeological value. Also included are movable objects or aggregates from other areas of cultural heritage, in particular of paleontological, ethnographic, numismatic or scientific value.
Placing on the market within the legal meaning of Section 2 (1) no. 9 KGSG means
offering, selling, brokering, distributing, marketing, passing or transferring free of charge for commercial exploitation or otherwise commercially exploiting cultural property on one’s own behalf or on behalf of another.
Thus, there must be a clear intention to transfer cultural property for commercial gain (change of ownership). The legal definition given in the KGSG does not cover pure holding cultural property – even with a view to subsequent sale. The same applies to changes of ownership as the result of inheritance or gifts. The definition of placing on the market as applied specifically to cultural property is thus narrower than in other areas of the law.